The Promise
by samanthabravo
Summary: She had promised she would always come back to him... A Nick/Sage one shot.


**The Promise**

**_Dedicated to my fellow Nage fans. I miss this couple, don't you?_**

* * *

Nick sat in the window seat at the tack house, bouncing Christian on his hip, as the baby pressed chubby fingers to the pane, leaving tiny smudges on the glass. Christian peered out eagerly into the falling darkness, as if searching for something or someone.

"Your mom," Nick realized, lightly kissing the baby's soft scalp. "You're missing your Mom, aren't you? _Me too."_ The infant continued peering out the window, his eyes moving through the falling darkness. "She'll be back soon though, bud. She promised and Sage always keeps her promises to us."

As darkness blanketed the ranch and there was no word from Sage, Nick had to admit to himself that he was getting worried too. She had just said she was going to run some simple errands. She should have been back by now.

He lifted Christian and cradled him to his side as he moved over to the phone. It couldn't hurt to call her; just to make sure that she was okay. After all they'd been through, it was an automatic response. He still thought of the accident that had nearly taken Sage's life often and it made him feel sick to his stomach. He'd had everything at stake; he'd had everything to lose, and he almost had. She'd been in a coma for two months - the longest two months of his life...

He couldn't forget the sheer joy and relief he felt when she first opened those gorgeous green eyes of hers and saw him; saw him the way only she could.

The miracle happened sixty days after the accident, just when he didn't think he could hold on any longer; just when he was giving up hope that his sleeping beauty would awaken.

_He had been crying into his hands when it happened. Total despair had caught him in its grip and he felt helpless - helpless to help her; helpless without her at his side where she belonged._

_"Ni-Nick?" Her voice was hushed and hoarse and at first, he really believed that he was hallucinating the sound._

_**"Nick?"**__ She coughed and his blurry eyes shot to hers._

_"Sage?" He said in disbelief. She was staring up at him questioningly. "Baby? You're - you're awake. You're back! Thank god. Oh, thank god." His lips found the back of her soft hand and he kissed the cool skin there._

_"Nick-"_

_"It's okay. I'll get the doctors. Save your strength, alright?" He started to move to his feet, ready to holler down the hall for the nearest medic, but she surprised him by catching his fingers in a surprisingly strong grip._

_"Nick, don't go. Not yet. I have to - I have to tell you so much. There was an accident..."_

_"Yes, baby, there was an accident. You were hurt... How much do you remember?"_

_Sage's eyes went wide as she searched his face, as if looking for the answers there. "Ohmigod. __**Christian!**__ Christian is - Nick... He's alive. He's alive and Sharon has him!" She seemed to be struggling to sit up but he gently pinned her down, worried that she would fall._

_"Sage-"_

_"Nick, no. I'm not delusional. It's not something I made up in my broken head .. Sully is Christian. Our son is alive. We need to get him right now. Please, please believe me."_

_Nick nodded as he reached out to dab at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks now. "Our son is alive, Nick!" She sobbed. "Please believe me."_

_"I do." Nick gently gathered her in his arms, pressing his mouth to the shell of her ear. "I know, sweetheart, I know everything."_

_She stared up at him in surprise. "You know?" She cried. "How? How - I don't understand -"_

_"Sharon confessed. She told me everything about what happened. Christian is here at the hospital now actually. He's with Victoria. Let me call the doctors and then I'll get him okay?"_

_"No, don't wait. I need to see him right now," Sage said. "Please, Nick. I need to see my son, I need to feel him. I need our family."_

_"Okay," Nick said. He kissed her earlobe. "You don't move okay?"_

_"Okay."_

_"Promise?"_

_"I promise. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this moment. Am I dreaming, Nick? Tell me, am I dreaming?"_

_"No, baby, you're not. Christian is alive and well and he's here. I'm going to get him and bring him to you."_

_He felt Sage's eyes burning into him as he ran for the door and shouted down the hall to Victoria. His sister looked up in surprise. "Victoria!" Nick called to her. "I need my son. Sage is awake and she's asking for Christian."_

_Victoria looked startled but happy. She quickly stood and hurried over with the squirming baby. "This is wonderful news, Nick. Christian's been really fussy," she said. "I think he must have known. Somehow he must have known..."_

_Nick nodded in understanding and carefully took the baby from his sister, cradling him to his chest. The baby slowed his crying a bit but was still whimpering. He didn't stop until Nick stepped through the door of Sage's room. The baby's eyes locked on Sage's and her eyes held his gaze._

_"Nick, our baby. Oh, our baby," she cried._

_"Yes, our son. He's back with us - where he belongs. And he's not going anywhere."_

_Nick moved to Sage and set the infant against her side, holding him gently in place. Sage could hardly lift her head but she still stared at her son in wonder. Her fingers grazed his arm and Christian seemed to naturally meld to her body, as he if he knew where he belonged and who he belonged to._

_"Ohmigod, he's so beautiful, Nick. Even more so than I remembered," Sage whispered. "Are you sure I'm not imagining all of this?"_

_"Feel him beside you. Feel his warmth, Sage. Can you feel him? He's real and he's here and he's not going anywhere. Neither are you. You had me so scared, babe."_

_"I'm - I'm sorry. I was trying to get to you..."_

_"I know all about that now."_

_"Sharon ... She actually told you the truth?"_

_"Yes. About a month ago. She saw me sitting with you, heard me begging you to come back to me. She saw how broken I was, and she finally admitted the truth. She and Dylan returned Christian and I've had our son here at the hospital every day in the hopes that you would wake up... And you have! Just don't ever scare me like that again, okay?"_

_"I promise," Sage said. She smiled up at him and he gently kissed her lips. Then he kissed Christian's cheek and Sage grinned through her tears. "It's a miracle, Nicholas. It's a miracle that he's with us. Say no one will ever take him away again."_

_Nick nodded. "No, they won't. I swear." He smiled. "You know, I received two miracles, thanks to you - finding out Christian's true identity. You pushed for that when I had stopped believing... and then you waking up. It's ... I am just so grateful."_

_"Oh god me too, Nicholas. Me too." Sage looked at her baby who had fallen to sleep at her side, now perfectly comfortable and happy as if he knew ... As if he knew he was with the people he was always meant to be with._

_"I love you, Sage," Nick said as a tear escaped his own eye. The look of wonder on Sage's face melted his heart. "Never leave me again."_

_"I won't. I swear. You and Christian ... We're going to be together, finally."_

_"Just the way it was meant to be."_

_"Yes," Sage whispered. "Yes. I love you, Christian. I love you, Nick."_

_"We love you too, baby. We love you so much," Nick said._

Nick shifted Christian on his hip as he reached for his cell phone. Just as he was dialing the familiar number, he heard the sound of tires crunching over gravel in the driveway. He smiled and whispered in Christian's ear, "I think Mommy is finally home."

He turned as the door to the tack house opened. Sage burst in carrying grocery bags and wearing a smile. She dropped the bags as Nick crossed the room to her and sandwiched her and Christian to his chest.

"Nick, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing ... Everything is actually perfect," Nick said.

"You just seemed -"

"I was just worried when you didn't come home."

"I am sorry. I got caught in evening traffic and I wasn't taking chances again calling on the cell phone while driving. Can you forgive me for worrying you two?"

"There's nothing to forgive," Nick said. He leaned over to kiss her impossibly soft lips. "We just missed you."

"I missed you too," Sage said. She kissed Nick again and then bussed Christian's forehead. "Hey, baby boy."

Christian responded by reaching for her. Sage pulled the infant against her chest, resting her chin lightly atop his little head. "I love my guys," she said. "And I'll always come home to you."

"Always?" Nick murmured.

"Always," Sage vowed and Nick knew it was a promise she intended to keep.

**The End**


End file.
